There’s a huge difference here in how you treat each of these. If you’re selling a product, you typically refer to the people that make a purchase as your customers. If you provide a service, you’ll typically call them clients.

Web and Graphic Design Clients

One thing that I notice with web and graphic design companies is that while many talk about clients, very few treat them the way a client should be treated. There’s a lot of bitching and complaining about clients, and their “stupid” expectations. From what I’ve seen and heard, most of these client relationships seem more adversarial than anything else. There’s a reason why websites that bitch and complain about clients are popular.

So while many shops claim to have “clients”, few treat them as such.

What would happen if they were treated as someone “who’s under the care and protection” of the companies they’ve hired?

What if you genuinely looked out for the well being of each and every one of your clients?